Various transmission protocols to transfer data between two or more nodes, e.g., in a network. Many protocols are designed to maximize the rate at which a stream of data can be transmitted from one node to another while minimizing errors. For instance, some protocols such as TCP/IP allow a stream of data to be broken up into packets and transmitted through various transmission paths to a receiver. The receiving node concatenates the data packets back into the original data stream.
Multiple channels such as multiple transmission frequencies can be used to deliver data between nodes. However, channels are typically used for transmitting different sets of data. For instance, one set of nodes may communicate over one channel while other sets of nodes communicate over other channels. Also, a single node may simultaneously transmit two or more different data sets over two or more channels to two or more different parties. Thus, a single node may use different channels to simultaneously send different messages to different nodes.